Lorenzo Palon

There is something deeply wrong whenever Christians begin to believe that access to God, understanding Scripture, discerning His will, or participating in ministry depends upon a special religious class.

The New Testament certainly recognizes pastors, elders, teachers, overseers, deacons, evangelists, and other forms of leadership. Leadership matters. Teaching matters. Spiritual oversight matters. But somewhere along the long history of the church, leadership has often been transformed into something the New Testament never intended: clerical control.

The result is a Christianity in which a few people are treated as the real ministers while everyone else becomes the audience.

In many churches, this imbalance can quietly become the norm. The pastor does most of the preaching, interpreting, deciding, and ministering, while the congregation mainly listens, accepts, obeys, and receives. Over time, such an approach can create a passive form of Christianity in which ministry is concentrated in the hands of a few rather than shared across the whole body of Christ.

But the New Testament provides us a much richer picture.

The church is not a religious institution staffed by professionals who dispense spiritual goods to passive consumers. It is a priestly people, gathered around Jesus Christ, the one true High Priest, and empowered by the Holy Spirit for worship, witness, service, discernment, and mission.

That is the heart of what Christians have historically called the priesthood of all believers.

Before There Was a Clergy, There Was a Priestly People

The idea does not begin with Martin Luther. It begins much earlier, in Israel’s calling.

At Sinai, God told Israel:

“You will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”
—Exodus 19:6

Israel was called to represent God before the nations and, in a sense, the nations before God. Its priestly vocation belonged to the people as a whole, even though Israel also had a particular Levitical priesthood serving within that larger calling.

Peter deliberately takes up this language and applies it to the followers of Jesus:

“You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession.”
—1 Peter 2:9

Peter applies these priestly titles not merely to pastors or church leaders, but to the entire Christian community. The “royal priesthood” and “holy nation” describe the whole people of God, showing that this identity and vocation belong to every believer in Christ.

Earlier in the same passage he says that believers, as “living stones,” are being built into a spiritual house and are themselves “a holy priesthood” offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

The priesthood belongs to the people of God.

That is not merely a statement about status. It is a statement about vocation.

Every believer belongs to the worshiping, witnessing, serving people through whom God makes His purposes known in the world.

Jesus Is the High Priest—Not the Pastor

Hebrews sharpens the point.

Under the old covenant, access to the Most Holy Place was restricted. The high priest entered on behalf of the people. The sanctuary itself embodied distance. Curtains, sacrifices, ritual boundaries, and priestly mediation reminded Israel that sinful humanity could not simply stroll casually into the presence of the holy God.

Then comes Jesus.

Hebrews presents Him as the great High Priest who has passed through the heavens and opened a “new and living way” into God’s presence.

Because of Jesus, believers are told:

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence.”
—Hebrews 4:16

And again:

“We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus.”
—Hebrews 10:19

That is astonishing.

The decisive mediator between humanity and God is no longer an earthly priesthood.

It is Christ.

This has enormous implications for Christian leadership.

No pastor, denomination, bishop, apostle, prophet, priest, ministry founder, or charismatic personality stands between the believer and God. Christian leaders may teach, guide, counsel, and correct, but none of them occupies the mediating role that belongs to Jesus Christ alone.

There is one High Priest.

Jesus Christ.

Christian leaders may teach us. They may counsel us. They may correct us. They may help us discern wisely. But they cannot occupy the mediating role that belongs to Christ alone.

Whenever leaders begin to function as spiritual gatekeepers—controlling access to God, Scripture, conscience, or Christian community—we have moved beyond healthy pastoral authority toward clerical domination.

The New Testament Does Have Leaders

The priesthood of all believers does not mean that everyone has the same calling, gifting, or responsibility.

The New Testament plainly recognizes leadership.

There are elders and overseers. There are teachers. There are deacons. There are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers.

Paul expects leaders to teach sound doctrine. Peter tells elders to shepherd the flock. Hebrews speaks of leaders watching over God’s people.

So the alternative to clericalism is not chaos.

It is not leaderless Christianity.

It is not true that everyone’s interpretation of Scripture is equally sound or that no one has the authority to correct error.

The real issue is the purpose and character of leadership.

Ephesians 4 is crucial here. Christ gives apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers:

“to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.”
—Ephesians 4:12

That sentence turns much modern church practice upside down.

Church leaders are not given to perform all ministry while everyone watches.

They are given to equip God’s people for ministry.

The pastor’s ministry succeeds not when the congregation becomes increasingly dependent upon the pastor, but when believers become increasingly capable of following Christ faithfully.

Healthy leaders do not collect ministry around themselves.

They release ministry into the body.

Jesus Rejected Domination as a Model of Leadership

The danger of clerical control becomes especially clear when we listen to Jesus.

The disciples were familiar with the normal structures of authority. Roman rulers exercised power from above. Patrons controlled clients. Status determined influence. Greatness was displayed by how many people served you.

Jesus tells His disciples:

“You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them.”
—Matthew 20:25

Then comes one of the most radical sentences in Jesus’ teaching on leadership:

“Not so with you.”

Not so with you.

The church was never supposed to imitate the world’s structures of domination and simply baptize them with Christian vocabulary.

Christian authority takes the shape of the cross.

“Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.”

Jesus does not eliminate leadership.

He redefines greatness.

Leadership in the kingdom is not measured by how many people must obey you. It is measured by how faithfully you serve.

That is why Christian leadership becomes distorted whenever titles, platforms, prestige, unquestioned loyalty, and institutional power become more important than humility, truthfulness, service, and accountability.

Even Paul Refused to Own People’s Faith

Paul possessed extraordinary apostolic authority. He planted churches. He corrected doctrine. He confronted sin. He sometimes issued strong commands.

Yet listen carefully to the way he describes his relationship with the Corinthians:

“Not that we lord it over your faith, but we work with you for your joy.”
—2 Corinthians 1:24

That verse should probably hang on the wall of every pastor’s office.

Paul does not say, “Your faith belongs to me.”

He does not say, “God appointed me; therefore, questioning me means questioning God.”

He says:

“We work with you.”

Spiritual authority and spiritual ownership are very different.

A pastor may guide and nurture someone’s faith, just as a teacher may help believers understand Scripture and a church may exercise appropriate discipline. Yet none of these relationships confers ownership: faith belongs to the believer before Christ, Scripture remains God’s Word rather than the possession of any teacher, and the conscience ultimately answers to God. Only Christ is Lord.

When Leadership Becomes Clerical Control

Clerical control rarely announces itself openly.

It usually develops slowly.

A congregation deeply respects a gifted pastor. The pastor becomes the principal teacher. Then perhaps he becomes the only trusted interpreter. Eventually people begin believing that disagreement with the pastor amounts to rebellion against God.

Soon the leader’s opinions acquire divine weight.

The warning signs become clearer when leaders begin regulating areas that properly require Christian discernment and conscience. This may include controlling what members may read, which teachers they may listen to, whom they may associate with, what political views are considered acceptable, whether they are free to leave the church, or whether they may question established doctrine. The problem becomes especially serious when leadership alone decides who is “in rebellion” or who is permitted to participate in ministry.

When one leader or leadership circle increasingly controls these areas without meaningful accountability, the church may still use biblical language while operating according to an unhealthy theology of authority.

The danger becomes even greater when verses about submission are detached from the rest of the New Testament.

Submission to Christian leadership never means surrendering conscience, discernment, moral responsibility, or allegiance to Christ.

No human leader receives unlimited authority.

The Bereans Were Praised for Checking an Apostle

Acts 17 offers a useful corrective.

Paul preached in Berea, and Luke tells us that the Bereans:

“examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”
—Acts 17:11

Think about that.

They were checking the teaching of an apostle.

And Luke praises them for it.

The Bereans were not condemned for lacking submission.

They were called noble.

Biblical leadership therefore does not demand intellectual surrender.

Truth can withstand examination.

Faithful pastoral leadership should welcome believers who study Scripture carefully, ask thoughtful questions, and examine what they have been taught. A faithful teacher has no reason to fear such discernment but should encourage Christians to open their Bibles, consult other responsible voices, pray, think deeply, and grow toward theological maturity.

If Christian leaders feel threatened whenever Christians learn to think theologically for themselves, they have gone wrong.

Pentecost Decentralized Ministry

The priesthood of believers also has a deeply pneumatological dimension.

At Pentecost, Peter explains the coming of the Spirit using Joel’s prophecy:

“Your sons and daughters will prophesy… Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit.”
—Acts 2:17–18

The Spirit is not given only to the religious elite.

The Spirit is poured upon the people of God.

Paul develops this further in 1 Corinthians 12. The church is one body with many members, and the Spirit distributes gifts throughout that body.

Wisdom does not belong to one office.

Service does not belong to one office.

Teaching does not exhaust ministry.

Encouragement matters. Generosity matters. Mercy matters. Hospitality matters. Administration matters. Discernment matters.

The Spirit has distributed ministry across the body of Christ.

This means no pastor can say, in effect, “The church needs me for everything.”

No church should revolve around one personality.

The very theology of spiritual gifts resists that kind of concentration of ministry.

Clericalism Produces Spiritual Dependence

One of the saddest consequences of clericalism is that it can produce spiritually immature Christians while appearing to produce strong churches.

Members may attend faithfully for decades yet remain unable to study Scripture independently, evaluate theological claims, pray without formulas, exercise their gifts, or make faithful moral decisions without asking what the leader thinks.

The shift becomes evident when believers begin looking first to pastoral opinion rather than asking what Scripture teaches or how Christ is calling them to respond. When every significant decision seems to require leadership approval, discipleship can slowly give way to institutional dependence. Paul presents a very different vision of ministry, one aimed at forming mature believers who are equipped to discern, serve, and follow Christ faithfully.

Christian leaders equip the saints until the whole church reaches maturity, “attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).

Healthy Christian leadership should produce maturity rather than dependency, discernment rather than fear, and active participation rather than passivity. Its ultimate goal is to form believers whose lives are increasingly centered on Christ, not on the personality, authority, or approval of a human leader.

Shepherds Are Not Owners

Peter’s instructions to church elders are perhaps among the clearest safeguards against clerical authoritarianism:

“Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them… not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”
—1 Peter 5:2–3

Peter deliberately distinguishes shepherding from domination.

The flock ultimately belongs to God, not to any pastor, denomination, ministry founder, or religious institution. Church leaders are therefore stewards of people entrusted to their care, never owners of those people or their faith.

And Peter reminds elders that they themselves remain accountable to “the Chief Shepherd.”

Every Christian leader, whatever title or responsibility he or she carries, remains under the authority of Jesus Christ. Pastors and shepherds are themselves accountable to the Chief Shepherd, whose lordship sets the standard for all Christian leadership.

That truth should make Christian leadership both courageous and humble.

The Priesthood of All Believers Is Not Anti-Pastor

This doctrine should never become an excuse for contempt toward pastors or resistance to all authority.

The church needs faithful leaders.

We need mature teachers.

We need shepherds who protect the vulnerable, confront destructive teaching, cultivate wisdom, care for suffering people, and hold communities together.

The question is not whether the church needs pastors, but what kind of pastors the gospel is meant to form. Faithful Christian leaders do not build personal kingdoms or make themselves indispensable; they build up the body of Christ and teach believers to depend more deeply on Him. Rather than silencing questions or hoarding ministry, they help people seek truth, exercise their gifts, and participate in the work of the church. Their calling is not to control the flock but to serve it faithfully.

One High Priest, One Lord, One Priestly People

The priesthood of all believers finally rests upon something deeper than church structure.

It rests upon Jesus Christ.

Because Christ has opened the way to the Father, every believer may come boldly to the throne of grace.

Because the Spirit has been poured out upon God’s people, every believer participates in God’s mission.

Because the church is the body of Christ, every member matters.

And because Jesus alone is Lord, no pastor, priest, bishop, apostle, denomination, or religious institution may take His place.

The church therefore needs leaders—but leaders who understand that authority in the kingdom is cruciform.

Pastors should shepherd.

Teachers should teach.

Elders should oversee.

But the whole people of God must be equipped to worship, serve, discern, witness, love, and participate in the mission of Christ.

The priesthood of all believers does not abolish leadership.

It gives leadership its proper place.

The church does not belong to the clergy. The church belongs to Christ.

And Christian leaders serve Him best when the people under their care become less dependent upon them and more mature, discerning, courageous, loving, and faithful followers of Jesus.

For Further Reading

• DeGroat, Chuck. When Narcissism Comes to Church: Healing Your Community from Emotional and Spiritual Abuse. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2020.
• Eastwood, Cyril. The Priesthood of All Believers: An Examination of the Doctrine from the Reformation to the Present Day. Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1962.
• McKnight, Scot. A Church Called Tov: Forming a Goodness Culture That Resists Abuses of Power and Promotes Healing. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale Momentum, 2020.
• Minear, Paul S. Images of the Church in the New Testament. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004.
• Peterson, David G. Engaging with God: A Biblical Theology of Worship. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1992.

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